Although naturally of a buoyant disposition and fond of pleasure,
Longfellow lived as far as possible from the public eye, especially
during the last twenty years of his life. The following note gives a
hint of his natural gayety, and details one of the many excuses by
which he always declined to speak in public; the one memorable
exception being that beautiful occasion at Bowdoin, when he returned
in age to the scenes of his youth and read to the crowd assembled
there to do him reverence his poem entitled "Morituri Salutamus."
After speaking of the reasons which must keep him from the Burns
festival, he adds:--

"I am very sorry not to be there. You will have a delightful supper,
or dinner, whichever it is; and human breath enough expended to fill
all the trumpets of Iskander for a month or more.

"I behold as in a vision a friend of ours, with his left hand under
the tails of his coat, blowing away like mad; and alas! I shall not be
there to applaud. All this you must do for me; and also eat my part of
the haggis, which I hear is to grace the feast. This shall be your
duty and your reward."

The reference in this note to the trumpets of Iskander is the only one
in his letters regarding a poem which was a great favorite of his, by
Leigh Hunt, called "The Trumpets of Doolkarnein." It is a poem worthy
to make the reputation of a poet, and is almost a surprise even among
the varied riches of Leigh Hunt. Many years after this note was
written, Longfellow used to recall it to those lovers of poetry who
had chanced to escape a knowledge of its beauty.

In spite of his dislike of grand occasions where he was a prominent